ADOT Enforcement chief honored for efforts promoting international trade

PHOENIX – A group dedicated to law enforcement coordination between Arizona and Sonora has honored the director of the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Enforcement and Compliance Division for promoting international partnership and trade through initiatives such as first-of-its-kind safety training offered to truckers and companies in Mexico.

Policia Internacional Sonora-Arizona recently presented its Luis Noriega Award to ADOT’s Tim Lane. The award, the group’s highest honor, is named for a longtime board member and deputy U.S. marshal.

"I am proud to be a part of an organization that supports strong partnerships with both state and international partners,” Lane said.

Among other duties related to transportation, ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division staffs commercial ports of entry where officers make sure trucks are safe and properly permitted to operate in Arizona. Two years ago, the division’s Border Liaison Unit launched an International Border Inspection Qualification that helps drivers and companies better understand the safety standards that ADOT officers enforce.

The training makes state highways safer while reducing wait times at commercial ports along the Arizona-Mexico border, in turn boosting Arizona’s economy by making those ports more appealing to truckers. As a result of the International Border Inspection Qualification, major safety violations among those certified through the program have dropped to almost zero.

Policia Internacional Sonora-Arizona also cited the Enforcement and Compliance Division’s role in a collaboration that helped Sonora launch its first safety corridor between Arizona and Puerto Peñasco. That collaboration, through which ADOT experts provided training in traffic incident management, stemmed from conversations that launched the International Border Inspection Qualification.

“ADOT’s border liaison program has been instrumental in the faster flow of commercial vehicles transporting goods between Arizona and Mexico,” said Siggy Casillas, chairman of Policia Internacional Sonora-Arizona. “Just by speaking to Mr. Lane, you feel the support he transmits when speaking about not only ADOT’s liaison program but other agencies’ liaison programs as well.”